"New York New York," written by Fred Ebb and John Kander; "The Mighty Rio Grande," written by Christopher Royal King, Jeremy Adam Galindo, Raymond Joseph Brown and Andrew Thomas Miller, performed by This Will Destroy You, courtesy of Magic Bullet Records; "The Show," written by Jason Reeves and Lenka Kripac; "Don't Stop Believin'," written by Jonathan Cain, Stephen R. Perry and Neal Schon, performed by Journey, courtesy of Columbia Records, by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing; "Mony Mony," written by Bobby Bloom, Tommy James, Ritchie Cordell and Bo Gentry, performed by Billy Idol, courtesy of Capitol Records, under license from EMI Film and Television Music; "The Star-Spangled Banner," written by John Stafford Smith and Francis Scott Key, arranged and performed by Joe Satriani, courtesy of Epic Records; "Bounce to Dis," written by Mendez Lazaro and Miranda Fernando, performed by DJ Laz, courtesy of Pandisc Music Corp., by arrangement with Shelly Bay Music; "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker)," written by George Clinton, Jr., William Earl Collins and Jerome Brailey, performed by Parliament, courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group, under license from Universal Music Enterprises.

Source Text:

Based on the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis (New York, 2003).

Billy Beane, general manager for the Oakland Athletics, smashes his portable radio in frustration after the team loses the 2001 American League Division Series championship to the Yankees. The next day, he complains to one of the Athletics' executives that the team is probably going to perform even worse next year since richer teams in the League have stolen away the team's three best players. Although Billy begs for more money so he can pay for better players, the executive refuses to budge on Billy's salary budget. At home, Billy fields phone calls from different players' agents, all of whom are releasing their clients to higher paying teams. At the office, Billy discusses with the Athletics' talent scouts the players the team should be going after. While the scouts all uniformly suggest good-looking men with mediocre talent, Billy argues that the Athletics' real issue is that they need to come up with new ideas to get great players because they can't afford the good ones that are out there now. Billy's suggestion to think differently, though, is met with entrenched resistance by the scouts, most of whom are much older than him. Flashing back to 1979, Billy remembers being scouted as a ballplayer for the exact same reasons the Athletics are arguing in the present day: he can hit and field well, but, more importantly, he has a handsome face. Back in the present day, Billy tries to remain cheerful during negotiations to trade players with the Cleveland Indians' general manager, Mark Shapiro. While Shapiro refuses to give up any of his good players, Billy notices that he is taking advice from a chubby and mysterious young man. After the meeting, Billy tracks the man down, Peter Brand, who claims he just does player analysis for Shapiro. Although Peter is initially reluctant to discuss his job in the office, Billy whisks him off to a secret location in the parking garage to pick his brain. Peter divulges his radical idea that baseball teams need to buy "runs" not players. The analyst also contends that the Athletics recently losing its alleged "best player" will be a good thing since he doesn't get many runs. Hired away by Billy to work in Oakland, Peter proves himself to be an overly ambitious analyst. On his first day, he shows off his complex mathematical formula to figure out how many runs over how many years it will take for the Athletics to finally win a championship. With this formula, they should be able to find value in certain players that no one else will see, players who may be too old or not good looking enough, but who will deliver the runs needed according to the formula. Peter's first player suggestion is pitcher Chad Bradford, who is undervalued by all the other teams because he has a funny looking pitching style. But before Billy can start building up his new team, he's threatened by the Athletics' manager, Art Howe, who is unhappy with his one-year contract. At another meeting with the Athletics' team scouts, this time with Peter's assistance, Billy starts pushing his radical idea about finding players with high on-base averages. Billy's suggestion to recruit three seemingly defective players is angrily shot down. Luckily, Billy can choose whichever players he wants without any of the scouts' input. Billy's first player visit is with Scott Hatteberg, a catcher with a bum elbow who Billy wants to train to replace the Athletics now empty first base position. The plan being set in motion, though, doesn't go down well with head scout Grady, who threatens Billy with a disastrous upcoming season if he hires players based on a computer program. After Grady publicly curses Billy out, the general manager fires the head scout on the spot. During Spring Training, all of Billy's controversial player picks get ripped apart by radio sports commentators who predict a disastrous year for the Athletics. Plus, Hatteberg makes for a particularly terrible first baseman. After an especially lousy season opening game, Billy confronts Art for not using the correct players in the spots where they are meant to be played, such as Hatteberg not being used on first base. Art complains that Billy is way out of his jurisdiction in making these demands and he'll put whoever he thinks appropriate on first base. As the season progresses, the misfit team continues to perform horribly. The press continues ripping Billy apart, suggesting he be fired. At home, Billy's daughter Casey worries about her father's future. Billy continues to press Art to put Hatteberg on first base. Art absolutely refuses. Billy also confronts the players about their losing streak. Fed up, Billy starts selling off some of the so-called "better" players so that Art will be forced to start using the players Billy wants. Billy also gives Peter the unpleasant task of telling the current first baseman, Carlos Peña, that he's been traded to the Detroit Tigers. Surprisingly, Peña takes the news graciously. Art, on the other hand, is far from happy, but there's nothing he can do. He has to play Hatteberg on first or nobody. Peter also begins taking a stronger position within the organization, advising all the players individually on how they should be playing based on how their stats work out. Also, one of the older players, David Justice, accepts Billy's proposal that he start acting like a mentor to the younger crew. All the new advice begins working its magic as the Athletics finally win seven straight games in a row with Art unfairly getting credit for the turnaround. On a roll, Billy presses to acquire more players to fill out his plan, engineering a complicated trading maneuver to score pitcher Ricardo Rincon from Cleveland. All of Billy and Peter's tricks work, continuing the Athletics' winning streak up to nineteen consecutive games, one less than the American League's all-time record. Then, on 4 September 2002, a tie-breaking home run by Hatteberg wins the Athletics' twentieth consecutive game. Despite the amazing success, Billy still wants the Athletics to win the World Series so that the team's accomplishment will have the possibility of changing the way baseball is played forever. Alas, the Athletics lose the last game of the season and the Minnesota Twins take home the pennant. The press immediately dismisses the Athletics' oddball streak as a fluke. After the season is over, Billy meets with the Boston Red Sox for a potential new job opportunity that would make him the highest paid general manager in baseball history. Back in Oakland, Billy turns the Red Sox offer down and sticks with the Athletics, the team he's committed to.

Director Spike Jonze plays an uncredited cameo in the film as the new husband to Billy's ex-wife, Sharon.
On 5 May 2004, DV reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment had acquired the rights to Michael Lewis's bestselling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003) and Stan Chervin was hired to write the screenplay. According to DV , the project was the first deal made by producer Michael De Luca since his move to Sony from DreamWorks and his former partner at New Line Cinema, Rachael Horowitz, was set to collaborate with him in the role of producer.
As noted in a DV news item on 9 Dec 2011, it took De Luca and Horowitz over six years to complete the film. A 13 Jul 2011 DV article described the film's evolution, from initial attempts by producer Mike Tollin to develop it at ESPN, to Horowitz's "discovery" of the book in 2003 and to the challenges she and De Luca faced to maintain support from Sony. An article in New York Magazine on 21 Aug 2011 stated that the involvement of Brad Pitt in 2007 propelled the film into a new league of marketability, leading to personnel changes to accelerate production. Writing duties were transferred from industry newcomer Chervin to Academy Award winner Steven Zaillian. Director David Frankel left the project, making way for Steven Soderbergh, another Academy Award winner who had previous experience working with Pitt in the Ocean's Eleven series (2001, 2004 and 2007, see entries).
Just days before principal photography was scheduled to begin on 11 Jun 2009, however, Sony halted production due to their disapproval of Soderbergh's approach to the story and his revisions of the script. As noted in various contemporary sources, including DV and New York Magazine , Soderbergh intended to incorporate a documentary style in the picture, using interviews with baseball insiders such as Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra and casting real-life players including Scott Hatteberg to portray themselves. Sony, however, favored a more dramatic narrative, believing that it would appeal to a wider audience.
According to LAT on 23 Jun 2009, economic concerns also factored into Sony's decision and noted that the film's $57 million budget was high for a baseball movie. LAT reported that Sony co-chairman Amy Pascal met with Soderbergh to discuss revisions but they were unable to come to an agreement. Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures were given the option to take over the project, but they both passed due to the difficulty of making a profit from a high-budget sports film. The article reflected on the challenge of marketing a baseball picture to female and foreign audiences. According to Chicago Tribune on 5 Jul 2009, Sony had already invested $10 million into the development of the film when they ended their relationship with Soderbergh. The article also noted there was concern at Sony about Pitt leaving the project because of his "loyalty" to Soderbergh and that the star held the right to refuse any of their suggestions for a replacement.

With Sony still in possession of the property, DV announced on 10 Jul 2009, that Aaron Sorkin was working on rewrites to the script and Scott Rudin had joined the project as co-producer. De Luca had previously worked with Sorkin and Rudin on The Social Network (2010, see entry). According to New York Magazine , Sorkin shifted the script's focus to Billy Beane's personal life, accentuating his relationships with his ex-wife and young daughter and satisfying Sony's requirement for a more emotional approach to the story. A 2 Jul 2009 NYT article, however, credits writers Stephen Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson with focusing the script on Beane's personal relationships shortly after Chervin completed the first version.
Negotiations for Bennet Miller to take over as director were reported in a 7 Dec 2009 HR news item. As noted in New York Magazine , Miller abandoned Soderbergh's documentary-style approach. He also replaced Soderbergh's casting choice of comedian Demetri Martin for the second lead role of "Peter Brand" with Jonah Hill.
According to various contemporary sources, the resulting film is mainly fictional despite its foundation in the real-life story of the Oakland Athletics baseball team general manager, Billy Beane. While Soderbergh intended for the script to be an authentic representation of Lewis's book and capture the "reality" of Beane's experiences, as stated in a 2 Jun 2009 LAT article, Miller's version was received by baseball insiders as caricature. In a 21 Sep 2011 LAT article, former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Paul DePodesta, on whom the character "Peter Brand" is based, said that he refused to have his name used in the film after reading the script because he "realized it was a piece of fiction." NYT noted Major League Baseball insiders were unhappy with "some factual liberties" in Zaillian's script and Soderbergh's revisions reflected his intention to meet their approval. Vice president of public relations for Major League Baseball, Matthew Bourne, told NYT that they made requests to Sony and Soderbergh to maintain "historical accuracy."
According to NYT on 24 Aug 2011, Beane, himself, was reluctant to speak about the film. The article noted that although the movie portrayed Beane's achievements from 2000 to 2003, specifically in the 2002 baseball season, he was not able to maintain the success of his team. The Oakland Athletics, which Beane is contracted to manage until 2014, was without a winning record for five consecutive seasons. Beane's talent for identifying undervalued players through empirical data, maximizing his team's value by acquiring them at low rates, and using statistical metrics to exploit their potential on the field, what NYT termed "market efficiency" and DV on 13 Jul 2011 defined as "moneyball," has since been co-opted by the league, according to NYT . What was once considered a radical revision of traditional baseball strategies, which measured players' values mainly through performance statistics, has now become standard, NYT stated, and teams such as the Oakland Athletics are unable to compete.
As stated in studio production notes from AMPAS library files, the actors were trained in "boot camps" around Los Angeles, California by baseball coordinator Michael Fisher. Fisher noted that training was particularly difficult for actor Chris Pratt in the role of "Scott Hatteberg" because he had to lose thirty pounds and learn to swing a bat with his left hand. The film was shot at five baseball parks, including Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Stengel Field at Verdugo Park in Glendale and Blair Field at California State University Long Beach. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, home to the Oakland Athletics, was used as the location for the scenes from the 2002 season games.
According to LAT on 26 Sep 2011, the film was extremely well received by audiences and grossed $20.6 million in its opening weekend. As reported in DV on 1 Dec 2011, Sony re-released Moneyball on 2 Dec 2011 for the holiday season and to position the film as a contender for award nominations.
In addition to being selected as one of AFI's Movies of the Year for 2011, Moneyball was nominated for six Academy Awards in the following categories: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Pitt), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Hill), Best Film Editing (Christopher Tellefsen), Best Sound Mixing (Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick), and Best Writing -- Adapted Sceenplay (Screenplay by Zaillian and Sorkin, Story by Chervin). The film also received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture -- Drama, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture --Drama (Pitt), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Hill) and Best Screenplay-- Motion Picture (Chervin, Sorkin and Zaillian). Pitt and Hill were also nominated for SAG awards and Chervin, Sorkin and Zaillian were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay by the WGA.